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What Did Senators Obama and McCain say about the Life Issues?
Pastor Rick Warren's Saddleback Forum; August 16, 2008
ABORTION
Question by Pastor Rick Warren
LET'S DEAL WITH ABORTION. I, AS A PASTOR, HAVE TO DEAL WITH THIS ALL THE TIME, EVERY DIFFERENT ANGLE, EVERY DIFFERENT PAIN, ALL THE DECISIONS AND ALL OF THAT. 40 MILLION ABORTIONS SINCE ROE V WADE. SOME PEOPLE WHO -- PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE THAT LIFE BEGINS AT CONCEPTION WOULD SAY THAT'S A HOLOCAUST FOR MANY PEOPLE. AT WHAT POINT IS A BABY ENTITLED TO HUMAN RIGHTS?
Abortion: Answer by Senator Barack Obama
WELL, I THINK THAT WHETHER YOU ARE LOOKING AT IT FROM A THEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OR A SCIENTIFIC PERSPECTIVE, ANSWERING THAT QUESTION WITH SPECIFICITY, YOU KNOW, IS ABOVE MY PAY GRADE.
BUT LET ME JUST SPEAK MORE GENERALLY ABOUT THE ISSUE OF ABORTION BECAUSE THIS IS SOMETHING OBVIOUSLY THE COUNTRY WRESTLES WITH. ONE THING THAT I'M ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED OF IS THERE IS A MORAL AND ETHICAL CONTENT TO THIS ISSUE. SO I THINK THAT ANYBODY WHO TRIES TO DENY THE MORAL DIFFICULTIES AND GRAVITY OF THE ABORTION ISSUE I THINK IS NOT PAYING ATTENTION. SO THAT WOULD BE POINT NUMBER ONE.
BUT POINT NUMBER TWO, I AM PRO-CHOICE. I BELIEVE IN ROE V. WADE AND COME TO THAT CONCLUSION NOT BECAUSE I'M PRO-ABORTION, BUT BECAUSE ULTIMATELY I DON'T THINK WOMEN MAKE THESE DECISIONS CASUALLY. THEY WRESTLE WITH THESE THINGS IN PROFOUND WAYS. IN CONSULTATION WITH THEIR PASTORS OR SPOUSES OR THEIR DOCTORS AND THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS. AND SO FOR ME, THE GOAL RIGHT NOW SHOULD BE -- AND THIS IS WHERE I THINK WE CAN FIND COMMON GROUND AND BY THE WAY I HAVE NOW INSERTED THIS INTO THE DEMOCRAT PARTY PLATFORM IS HOW DO WE REDUCE THE NUMBER OF ABORTIONS BECAUSE THE FACT IS THAT ALTHOUGH WE'VE HAD A PRESIDENT WHO IS OPPOSED TO ABORTIONS OVER THE LAST EIGHT YEARS, ABORTIONS HAVE NOT GONE DOWN.
Abortion: Answer by Senator John McCain
AT THE MOMENT OF CONCEPTION. I HAVE A 25-YEAR PRO LIFE RECORD IN THE CONGRESS, IN THE SENATE. AND AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, I WILL BE A PRO-LIFE PRESIDENT AND THIS PRESIDENCY WILL HAVE PRO-LIFE POLICIES. THAT'S MY COMMITMENT, THAT'S MY COMMITMENT TO YOU.
EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH
ESCR: Question by Pastor Rick Warren
ANOTHER ISSUE, STEM CELLS. NOW WE'VE HAD THIS SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGH OF CREATING PLURIPOTENT STEM CELLS THROUGH ADULT STEM CELLS SO WOULD YOU FAVOR OR OPPOSE THE FEDERAL FUNDING OF EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH SINCE WE HAVE THIS OTHER BREAKTHROUGH?
ESCR: Answer by Senator Barack Obama
KEEP IN MIND THE WAY THAT STEM CELLS LEGISLATION THAT WAS VETOED BY THE PRESIDENT WAS STRUCTURED, WHAT IT SAID WAS YOU COULD ONLY USE EMBRYOS THAT WERE ABOUT TO BE DISCARDED, THAT HAD BEEN CREATED AS A CONSEQUENCE OF ATTEMPTS AT IN VITRO FERTILIZATION. SO THERE WERE VERY TIGHTLY CIRCUMSCRIBED MECHANISMS THAT WERE PERMITTED. I THINK THAT THAT IS A LEGITIMATE MORAL APPROACH TO TAKE. IF WE ARE GOING TO DISCARD THOSE EMBRYOS AND WE KNOW THAT THERE'S POTENTIAL RESEARCH THAT COULD LEAD TO CURING DEBILITATING DISEASE, ALZHEIMER'S, LOU GEHRIG'S DISEASE, IF THAT POSSIBILITY PRESENTS ITSELF THEN I THINK WE SHOULD IN A CAREFUL WAY GO AHEAD AND PURSUE THAT RESEARCH.
NOW, IF IN FACT ADULT STEM CELL LINES ARE WORKING JUST AS WELL, THEN OF COURSE WE SHOULD TRY TO AVOID ANY KIND OF MORAL ARGUMENTS THAT MAY BE IN PLACE. BUT I WANT TO MAKE A BROADER POINT, PASTOR RICK ON AN ISSUE LIKE STEM CELL RESEARCH. IT'S NOT LIKE PEOPLE WHO ARE IN FAVOR OF STEM CELL RESEARCH ARE GOING AROUND THINKING TO THEMSELVES BOY LET'S GO DESTROY SOME EMBRYOS. THAT'S NOT THE PERSPECTIVE THAT I THINK PEOPLE COME TO THAT ISSUE ON. I THINK WHAT THEY SAY IS WE WOULD NOT TOLERATE A SITUATION IN WHICH, YOU KNOW, WE'RE ENCOURAGING HUMAN CLONING OR IN SOME WAYS DIMINISHING THE SACRED NECESSARY OF HUMAN LIFE AND WHAT IT MEANS TO BE HUMAN, BUT THAT IN NARROW CIRCUMSTANCES, YOU KNOW, THERE IS NOTHING INAPPROPRIATE WITH US PURSUING SCIENTIFIC RE CERTAIN OF THAT COULD LEAD TO CURES SO LONG AS WE'RE NOT DESIGNING EMBRYOS FOR THAT PURPOSE.
ESCR: Answer by Senator John McCain
FOR THOSE OF US IN THE PRO LIFE COMMUNITY, THIS HAS BEEN A GREAT STRUGGLE AND A TERRIBLE DILEMMA BECAUSE WE'RE ALSO TAUGHT OTHER OBLIGATIONS THAT WE HAVE AS WELL. I'VE COME DOWN ON THE SIDE OF STEM CELL RESEARCH, BUT I AM WILDLY OPTIMISTIC THAT SKIN CELL RESEARCH WHICH IS COMING MORE AND MORE INTO FOCUS AND PRACTICABILITY WILL MAKE THIS DEBATE AN ECONOMIC ONE.
Source: Simultaneous transcripts of the Saddleback Civil Forum found at http://rickwarrennews.com/transcript
Note: This information is offered for the purpose of public education. Bioethics Defense Fund, a non-profit organization, does not endorse or oppose any candidate for public office.
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